Common Jellyfish - Aurelia aurita

The Common Jellyfish - Aurelia aurita - is circum-global in distribution and usually appears off our coasts in mid to late Spring. Sometimes it comes in almost astronomical numbers and then another year there are relatively few. Up to 25cms across, they are quite harmless to humans but act like a kind of swimming flypaper. As they pulse through the water, plankton sticks to their upper surfaces. This is transferred by tiny cilia to the edge of the animal which then licks it off with appendages called mouth arms.
It is often also called the Moon Jelly.

Common Jellyfish - Aurelia aurita

The Common Jellyfish - Aurelia aurita - is circum-global in distribution and usually appears off our coasts in mid to late Spring. Sometimes it comes in almost astronomical numbers and then another year there are relatively few. Up to 25cms across, they are quite harmless to humans but act like a kind of swimming flypaper. As they pulse through the water, plankton sticks to their upper surfaces. This is transferred by tiny cilia to the edge of the animal which then licks it off with appendages called mouth arms.
It is often also called the Moon Jelly.

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North Sea - St. Abbs Marine Reserve.

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Common Jellyfish - Aurelia aurita

The Common Jellyfish - Aurelia aurita - is circum-global in distribution and usually appears off our coasts in mid to late Spring. Sometimes it comes in almost astronomical numbers and then another year there are relatively few. Up to 25cms across, they are quite harmless to humans but act like a kind of swimming flypaper. As they pulse through the water, plankton sticks to their upper surfaces. This is transferred by tiny cilia to the edge of the animal which then licks it off with appendages called mouth arms.
It is often also called the Moon Jelly.